Page 38: of Marine Technology Magazine (September 2024)

Newfoundland & Labrador

MTR 100

The group is looking forward to this fall’s ABCMI Business

Oceans Advance Bridges Industry

Collaboration in the NL maritime industry is facilitated by Conference in Vancouver, marketing the initiative as a gate- way to the Asia market. “We are also supporting the Atlantic organizations to connect and unify the industry. Oceans Ad-

Canadian trade show space at Ocean Business in Southamp- vance, born out of the concept for an ocean technology cluster in NL, has a network of partners, collaborators and buyers ton in April 2025—a major export activity for our NL compa- nies,” said Petten. across Canada and around the world. It leads national and in- ternational export trade initiatives and offers support to bring

Co. Innovation Centre Removes Barriers technology solutions to a global audience. “We facilitate col-

A new player in the NL maritime sector is the Co. Innova- laboration through targeted events, and we advocate for sup- port from our provincial and federal funding partners for our tion Centre, a multi-sectoral space for established and grow- ing companies to converge, collaborate and co-create. The members,” noted Executive Director Shelly Petten. facility was created to ameliorate silos between industries,

Member companies bene? t from the vast network of partners and collaborations, trade opportunities for export growth, and missed partnerships, a lack of infrastructure or warehouse space for bigger projects and low visibility of new, local tech- continuous improvement initiatives like sales training and di- nologies. “And the companies had a really interesting desire rect access to funding. Moreover, anyone outside of the prov- that I haven’t seen in other places, to collaborate,” explained ince can bene? t from Oceans Advance as an associate mem- ber. “We routinely connect folks from outside NL with our Kay-Fowlow. “Businesses here want to work together and local community players,” added Petten. “We have the most they didn’t have a place to do that.” A group of core partners amazing infrastructure here for R&D in the ocean space, too.” helped the Centre reach its current stage, including techNL,

COINNOVATIONCENTRE © JAC Marketing Agency

The Co. Innovation Centre came to life earlier this year. It’s a multi-sectoral space for established and growing com- panies to converge, collaborate and co-create. The total space is about 54,000 square feet, split into di? erent sections, including o? ce and collaboration space, a light-industrial space, as well as a café, public space and meeting rooms. 38 September/October 2024

MTR #7 (34-49).indd 38 10/3/2024 12:14:51 PM